Jayson Tatum scored 18 of his 23 points in Boston’s dominant third quarter, and the Celtics routed Toronto 125-71, extending the Raptors’ losing streak to 11 games. The Celtics outscored the Raptors 45-18 in the third, using an onslaught of 3-pointers to pull away. Holiday returned after missing three games with a right shoulder injury, finishing with 14 points. Payton Pritchard scored 19, Derrick White had 16 and Hauser finished with 12 points. Jaylen Brown added 12 points and nine rebounds in the win. Scottie Barnes led Toronto with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Milwaukee 120 Indiana 112
San Antonio 122 L.A. Clippers 86
Oklahoma City 113 Minnesota 105
Cleveland 122 L.A. Lakers 110
Memphis 117 Phoenix 112
NHL
Jakob Chychrun scored his 11th goal of the season to tie for the most among NHL defensemen, and the Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins 3-1. Aliaksei Protas scored twice, including an empty-netter, and Logan Thompson made 26 saves for the Capitals, who bounced back from a 4-2 defeat Sunday at Detroit. They had more shots in the first 22 minutes than in their entire game at Boston on Dec. 23, when they had a season-low 11 and lost 4-1. Alex Ovechkin remains 25 goals back of breaking Wayne Gretzky's career record.
David Kampf, Steven Lorentz and John Tavares scored as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Islanders 3-1 on Tuesday to move into a tie with idle Florida for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. Joseph Woll made 30 saves for Toronto (23-13-2). Jean-Gabriel Pageau score for the Islanders (14-7-7). Ilya Sorokin finished with 22 saves.
Wyatt Johnston scored the tiebreaking goal in his 200th NHL game as the Dallas Stars beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-2. Johnston tipped a centering pass by Thomas Harley over Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s right shoulder to give Dallas a 3-2 lead at 11:32 of the third period. Jason Robertson had a goal and two assists, Roope Hintz scored his team-best 16th goal and Esa Lindell added an empty-netter for the Stars, who are 3-0-1 in their last four games. Casey DeSmith, making his ninth start this season, finished with 21 saves and got his second career assist on Lindell’s goal. Jason Tucker and Beck Malenstyn scored for the Sabres, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Luukkonen stopped 29 shots.
Ryan Strome scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:24 to play, and the Anaheim Ducks blew a two-goal lead in the third period before recovering for a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Strome had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who have won back-to-back games for only the second time in six weeks. Troy Terry and Robby Fabbri also scored, and Lukas Dostal made 32 saves. Timo Meier scored the tying goal with 6:40 left for New Jersey, which fell out of the Eastern Conference lead with its second straight loss. Jonas Siegenthaler also scored, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots.Final Philadelphia 4 San Jose 0
Detroit 4 Pittsburgh 2
Montreal 3 Vegas 2
St. Louis 6 Chicago 2
Colorado 5 Winnipeg 2
Minnesota 5 Nashville 3
SO Columbus 4 Carolina 3
Edmonton 4 Utah 1
Calgary 3 Vancouver 1
TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
(5) Penn St. 31 (8) Boise St. 14
Drew Allar threw three touchdown passes and No. 5 Penn State bottled up Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty for a 31-14 win over No. 8 Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, earning a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals. The Nittany Lions opened their first CFP berth with a blowout win over SMU and appeared headed toward the latest lopsided victory in the new 12-team format by jumping out to a 14-0 lead against the Broncos. Boise State fought back, pulling to 17-14 on Matt Lauter’s 53-yard touchdown catch midway through the third quarter. Penn State shut down the Broncos from there, earning a spot in the Jan. 9 Orange Bowl. Jeanty had 104 yards on 30 carries, leaving him 27 yards short of Barry Sanders' single-season NCAA record.
Michigan 19 (11) Alabama 13
Michigan’s defense sacked Jalen Milroe five times and forced three turnovers by the Alabama quarterback to lead the Wolverines to a 19-13 victory over the 11th-ranked Crimson Tide in the ReliaQuest Bowl. Dominic Zvada kicked four field goals and Davis Warren threw a first-half touchdown pass to Fredrick Moore for Michigan, which finished the season on a three-game winning streak that included back-to-back upsets of rival Ohio State and Alabama. Alabama’s season ended with a loss to Michigan for the second year in a row. The Wolverines and the Crimson Tide met in a College Football Playoff semifinal at last season’s Rose Bowl, with Michigan winning on the way to capturing the national championship.nd Dolphins hold onto slim hopes.
(21) Illinois 21 (14) South Carolina 17
Josh McCray scored his second touchdown of the game on a 9-yard run midway through the fourth quarter to give No. 21 Illinois the lead, and the Illini held on to beat No. 14 South Carolina 21-17 in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. McCray rushed for 114 yards on 13 carries, including a 3-yard TD run in the third quarter. Luke Altmeyer threw for 174 yards with a touchdown and an interception as Illinois (10-3) closed out the fifth 10-win season in program history and its first since 2001. South Carolina fell short of the fifth 10-win season in program.
Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham has agreed to a five-year contract extension on the eve of the Sun Devils’ College Football Playoff quarterfinal game, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press. Dillingham will receive a pay increase and substantial bonus increases, the person said on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been announced. The contract extension was first reported by ESPN’. The 34-year-old Dillingham orchestrated one of the biggest turnarounds in recent college football history, taking the No. 10 Sun Devils from three wins a year ago to the New Year’s Day Peach Bowl against No. 4 Texas.
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
(1) Tennessee 67 Norfolk St. 52
(4) Duke 88 Virginia Tech 65
West Virginia 62 (7) Kansas 61
(8) Marquette 78 Providence 50
(10) Kentucky 88 Brown 54
(25) Baylor 81 Utah 56
The Dartmouth men’s basketball team has dropped its attempt to form a union. The team is ending a push to become the first college sports team to unionize in order to avoid a potentially damaging precedent from a National Labor Relations Board that soon will be controlled by Republicans. The Service Employees International Union Local 560 filed a request to withdraw the NLRB petition on Tuesday rather than take its chances with an unfriendly labor board likely to take over in the new presidential administration. The request was approved later Tuesday. The Dartmouth case threatened to upend the NCAA’s amateur model.
NFL
Saquon Barkley’s pursuit of Eric Dickerson’s 40-year-old rushing record could get grounded by his coach. Nick Sirianni’s decision is more difficult than it seems. Barkley needs 101 yards rushing against his former team on Sunday to set the NFL’s single-season record. But the Philadelphia Eagles are locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC so the outcome of their game won’t affect the standings. Win, lose or tie against the New York Giants, the Eagles will host the Green Bay Packers or Washington Commanders in a wild-card playoff game. They don’t have a bye so this game is an opportunity for Sirianni to rest most of his starters ahead of the playoffs and avoid risking injuries to key players.
PGA GOLF
Xander Schauffele says the plan is for Americans to give their Ryder Cup compensation to charity. The PGA of America is paying players for the first time. They will get $300,000 for charity and a $200,000 stipend for the September matches at Bethpage Black. Schauffele says all that means is more money going to charity and the Americans are “going to take crap” for perceived greed. He says captain Keegan Bradley had a plan for players to pool the stipend for a local charity. Bradley says the timetable of announcing the plan was moved up because of a British newspaper report.
WORLD JUNIOR HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
Danny Nelson scored the eventual game-winner in the third period and Trey Augustine made 38 saves, leading the United States to a 4-1 win over Canada and into the top spot in Group A at the world junior hockey championship. Cole Hutson and Cole Eiserman each had a goal and an assist for the Americans. Ryan Leonard scored into an empty-net.In another Group A game, Finland beat Latvia 3-0. In Group B, Switzerland beat Kazakhstan 3-1 to secure a spot in the quarterfinal round, and Sweden completed a sweep of its four preliminary round games, beating Czechia 4-2.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
